Written questions by Barker.

With reference to the press notice entitled Pat McFadden vows to make the state more like a start up as he deploys reform teams across country, published on 9 December 2024, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on sharing the lessons learned from his Department’s temporary accommodation pilot with the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness.

In December the Government launched the £100 million Innovation Fund to pioneer Public Service Reform by deploying new test-and-learn teams around the country to find innovative ways to fix some of our biggest challenges, including temporary accommodation. My officials are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on this programme, ensuring they build on and complement the extensive programme of work the Secretary of State is taking forward on temporary accommodation and homelessness, including the Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots announced on 18 December 2024. I am a member of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Inter Ministerial Group on homeless and temporary accommodation. I have also met with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping and we have jointly met with council leaders to discuss this issue. Trialling new, innovative ways of doing government is right at the heart of the Public Service Reform agenda, and we will be sharing the lessons learned from our pilots across government, including with the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that Prison pathfinder meetings are provided with intelligence risk assessments on the release of prisoners that could pose a threat to national security.

The improvements being made to the Pathfinder process, to further enhance our ability to make informed decisions about offenders who pose national security risks, are set out in the Ministry of Justice’s response to the Prevention of Future Deaths Report by H M Coroner, following the inquest into deaths resulting from the terror attack in Forbury Gardens, Reading (https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-0276-Response-from-Ministry-of-Justice.pdf). In addition, new guidance and templates have been produced for prison security departments to improve the quality and detail of the intelligence assessments that inform pre-release planning under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements.

Whether he has had discussions with local authorities on the provision of temporary accommodation for test-and-learn pilots.

The Test & Learns are a new way of working. The Cabinet Office, in close partnership with MHCLG, will be working across government and with local partners to codesign the detailed approach to the allocation of the Public Services and Innovation Fund in early 2025. We will partner with the Local Government Association (LGA) on this process. The initial projects include work on temporary accommodation with Liverpool City Council and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Essex County Council.

Communities and Local Government, how many times officials from her Department have met with homelessness sector stakeholders since July 2024.

The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This includes chairing a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy.We have also established an Expert Group to bring together representatives from across the homelessness and rough sleeping sector, local and combined authorities and wider experts to help Government understand what is working well nationally and locally and where improvements are needed.We will engage across the sector at ministerial and official level, as well as with those with lived experience through a lived experience forum to ensure their voices are reflected in the homelessness strategy.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she plans to take to consult the homelessness sector on the work of the development of a cross-departmental strategy for ending homelessness.

The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This includes chairing a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy.We have also established an Expert Group to bring together representatives from across the homelessness and rough sleeping sector, local and combined authorities and wider experts to help Government understand what is working well nationally and locally and where improvements are needed.We will engage across the sector at ministerial and official level, as well as with those with lived experience through a lived experience forum to ensure their voices are reflected in the homelessness strategy.

Communities and Local Government, what (a) formal role and (b) ongoing involvement she will have in the (i) formulation and (ii) implementation of a cross-departmental strategy for ending homelessness.

The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This includes chairing a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy.We have also established an Expert Group to bring together representatives from across the homelessness and rough sleeping sector, local and combined authorities and wider experts to help Government understand what is working well nationally and locally and where improvements are needed.We will engage across the sector at ministerial and official level, as well as with those with lived experience through a lived experience forum to ensure their voices are reflected in the homelessness strategy.

What assessment has she made on the number of points failures on the rail network in the last 12 months.

Between the start of this financial year and 9 November, there have been 1,772 points failures compared with 1,715 points failures in the same period last year.

What assessment has she made on the adequacy of of passenger facilities at Crewe railway station as a connection point for service between the North West and (a) the West Midlands and (b) the South East.

Avanti West Coast and Network Rail are working together to address issues with the lifts and canopies at Crewe. Options to improve passenger facilities are also under consideration as part of the renewal works expected to complete by 2029.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the performance of Northern Rail.

The Secretary of State has made clear to Northern’s management that its current performance is unacceptable. That is why we issued the company with a breach of contract notice and required it to develop a recovery plan. Ministers and officials regularly meet Northern's management to drive performance improvements across its network.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of short notice changes to the timetable on the rail network.

The department is aware that short notice changes have been occurring due to factors such as incidences of infrastructure issues and traincrew shortages – with a shortage of traincrew causing a high proportion of these short notice changes. The department is working with train operators and Network Rail to address these issues.

What assessment has she made of overcrowding on Transport for Wales trains.

The specification, management and performance of Transport for Wales train services are devolved matters for Welsh Ministers.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the performance of London Northwestern Railway.

The Department constantly scrutinise performance and challenge West Midlands Trains, who manage the performance of London Northwestern Railway. The Rail Minister has met with WMT to reiterate that improving performance is a key priority for DfT and we hold WMT to account for delivering it.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the performance of rail operators over weekend periods in the last six months.

The Department is aware that short notice weekend changes have been occurring, with a shortage of traincrew causing a high proportion of these short notice changes. The Department is working with train operators urgently on this issue, as the level of service in some parts of the country on weekends is unacceptable.

If she will make a comparative assessment of the processing times for (a) parent, (b) spousal and (c) work visas.

Applications for parental, spouse and work visas are assessed against different immigration rules and as such, processing times are subject to the complexities of the individual routes.The Home Office keeps visa processing times constantly under review and steps have been taken to reduce these across all visa routes where possible.Information on visa processing times for applications made outside of the UK can be found here: Visa processing times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).Information on visa processing times for applications made from within the UK can be found here: Visa processing times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

If she will take steps to reduce the time taken to process visas for the parents of people living in the UK.

The Home Office keeps visa processing times under review, including on the routes available to parents. Different routes, and individual circumstances, involve varying levels of complexity but the Home Office is committed to improving process efficiency wherever possible.Information on visa processing times for applications made outside of the UK can be found here: Visa processing times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).Information on visa processing times for applications made from within the UK can be found here: Visa processing times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

What he is taking to ensure effective intelligence sharing between mental health services and (a) the police and (b) other relevant services when a patient is deemed to pose a risk to the wider public.

Mental health services work and engage with a range of services to manage patients identified as a potential risk. The nature of this engagement will vary depending on the nature and level of the risk. For example, this may be through formal processes such as multi-agency public protection arrangements.In matters of national security, health services work with Counter Terrorism policing and the wider security sector to ensure that information is shared appropriately, to provide a complete picture of any risk, and to provide the right interventions and care for patients.Local level arrangements will also be in place, as police forces are operationally independent. Whilst the roll out of the Right Care, Right Person approach has reduced the involvement of police in mental health incidents, they will continue to engage where there is a serious risk of harm, and local level arrangements have been put in place to support safe roll out between police, and health and social care services.We intend to use the Code of Practice following the Mental Health Bill to further underline good practice for how mental health services should work with other services, including the police, to keep people safe, particularly regarding consideration of discharge.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) NHS England and (b) Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust respond to Sir Adrian Fulford's prevention of future deaths report following the Forbury Garden terrorist incident in June 2020.

It is the responsibility of the individual organisations named within a Report to Prevent Future Deaths to take action to address any identified failures. Following Sir Adrian Fulford's report, each organisation, including NHS England and the trusts, has written to the Judge Coroner, setting out what action they have taken to address the points he has made.As a first step, NHS England included a requirement in the National Health Services’ 2024/25 priorities and operational planning guidance that all integrated care boards (ICBs) ‘review their community services by Q2 2024/25 to ensure that they have clear policies and practice in place for patients with serious mental illness, who require intensive community treatment and follow-up but where engagement is a challenge’. Further information on the 2024/25 priorities and operational planning guidance is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/operational-planning-and-contracting/The outcome of these reviews and local action plans will be presented at the ICBs’ Public Boards, to ensure the outcome of the review is transparent and locally led.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that mental health patients who could pose a risk to the wider public have their cases managed appropriately.

The Mental Health Act 1983, now and when reformed, has the necessary powers to enable clinicians to manage high risk mental health patients. The planned reforms will not change the fundamental powers and purpose of the Act, which is to detain and treat people when they are so unwell they become a risk to themselves or others. However, when the very serious decision is taken to detain someone, the reforms will ensure there is a modern framework for the use of these powers, to ensure patients are treated with dignity and respect and that they receive care and treatment which supports recovery.The Mental Health Bill will seek to improve the management of risk within the Act. This Government has made additional changes to the bill published in draft in 2022 to achieve this, including the introduction of a new requirement for the patient’s responsible clinician to consult another person who has been professionally concerned with the patient’s care when they are deciding about whether to discharge a patient.NHS England included a requirement in the 2024/25 NHS Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance that all integrated care boards (ICBs) “review their community services by Q2 2024/25 to ensure that they have clear policies and practice in place for patients with serious mental illness, who require intensive community treatment and follow-up but where engagement is a challenge”.The outcome of these reviews and local action plans will be presented at ICB’s public boards to ensure the outcome of the review is transparent and locally led.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to help ensure the (a) arrest and (b) surrender to the International Criminal Court of (i) Benjamin Netanyahu and (ii) Yoav Gallant.

The issue of enforcing an arrest warrant would only arise if the indicted individual were to visit the UK. There is a domestic legal process set out in the ICC Act 2001 which would be followed in such a situation.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will reaffirm support for the International Criminal Court; and if he will publish an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the arrest warrants issued by that Court for (a) Benjamin Netanyahu and (b) Yoav Gallant.

We confirm our support and respect for the independence of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Whilst we do not have plans to publish an assessment, we remain focused on pushing for an immediate ceasefire, to bring an end to the devastating violence in Gaza.  This is essential to ensure the release of hostages, the upholding of international law and to increase humanitarian aid into Gaza.